SOLON — The patio at the Solon Public Library looked like a set out of the movie Jurassic Park Thursday, August 11 as the Library hosted a “Dinosaurs at Dusk” event featuring dozens of wooden dinosaurs crafted by Solon’s Jack Neuzil.
Jack, a retired teacher, began making the wooden replicas approximately 25 years ago after seeing a young niece attempting to make a dinosaur out of cardboard. “I said nah, I’ll go home and saw you one out of wood.” The next time he saw her, he had three cut, sanded, glued, stained and varnished, and ready for play and loving. “My sister happened to be there, who was a teacher at the (Vinton) Braille School, and she said her kids (students) would love these things. So, I said OK, I’d make them some.” In all Jack made about 20 for her, and thought he was finished with the dinosaur business.
After about a month or so, he recalled, the superintendent evicted the dinosaurs claiming they were a distraction for the children. “All they wanted to do is play with those dinosaurs,” he said. One young girl in particular touched his heart when he went to retrieve them. “She was probably eight years old, totally blind, and she had one on her lap. She was talking to it and petting it. It almost made me cry. I mean, is that all it takes to make a little girl happy, that can’t see? Well, that kind-of turned me around that maybe I should be a little bit more enthusiastic about this whole thing.”
The displaced dino’s soon found a new home as then-Solon Librarian Kris Brown offered to take them in. To this day many can be found keeping watch and guarding the bookshelves of the Solon Library. This soon led to a second career of sorts after a school district asked to borrow them, and then told him he had to come too, to speak to the students about dinosaurs.
“I didn’t know anything about dinosaurs, but I went and I didn’t know one dinosaur from another except for what I’d built. Then other schools heard about it, and so I’d take them to a school and leave them for two weeks, and then I’d go back and talk to them and pick them up and take them to the next school.”
Most of the time Jack talked with elementary students in second or third grade. And sometimes he met his match when it came to knowledge about dinosaurs.
“This one little boy came up, and I knew I was in trouble when he sat right close to me. As I was getting through the program I said it was time for questions and answers. He asked me if I thought the velociraptor was the fastest dinosaur. I said, I don’t know, but I had a book and I reached around to grab it, and he said, ‘Page 187!’ I made up my mind right then and there if you don’t know it, just say you don’t know. Because those kids know a hell of a lot more than I do.”
Jack also discovered his dinosaurs had the ability to peak the interest of some students, who previously had shown little to no interest in or motivation for learning. Teachers would often tell him of one or two students in their class that they were unable to get them to do anything. “They would just sit there. And one teacher said, ‘When you brought those dinosaurs they got interested in them, and then they wanted to start reading about them.’ You can’t learn anything unless you have a reason. You have to be motivated. So, I thought well, that’s pretty good if some kids get turned around and start reading. It (visiting the schools) was worthwhile.”
His school visits were also worthwhile to the Solon Community School District as shortly after he started touring, Jack decided nothing ‘free’ is any good. So, he would charge the schools he visited one book for the Solon Library. “I didn’t care how much it cost, it could be a $5 book or a $20 book. It didn’t matter, and they would sign the school’s name in the front of the book, and all of the kids could sign it if they wanted to.” He estimated 75-80 books were obtained this way over the years.
“The whole idea was to promote reading,” he said.
Jack’s dinosaurs were noticed by others as well including noted paleontologist and museum curator Phillip J. Currie, a founder of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, and has a museum named in his honor in Wembley, Alberta, Canada, became aware and stopped by.
“He invited me on a (archeological) dig, and then another one. And, he has two of my wooden dinosaurs. Here’s a guy who has all the dinosaurs he wanted in the world, and he has two of mine. Holy cow.”
Making the dinosaurs began with a simple line drawing on a board, which was then cut out with a band saw to create the middle piece. “And then I’d be in my shop (along Lake Macbride), and I’d hear the fish calling me, saying ‘Come fishing, come fishing!’ So, I had to put it down and go fishing, and maybe the next day I’d cut out another piece or two. It all depended on if the fish were calling me, so it could’ve taken me a week (to make one), or it may have been two days.”
When asked if he’d had fun making them, Jack said all he could think of was how happy some of the kids looked, “And maybe it’s going to make a difference. And I’d say maybe it’s worthwhile, keep doing it.”
Jack’s woodworking wasn’t limited to tyrannosaurus rex’s, velociraptors, and other such creatures. He also crafted the altar and ambo (pulpit) for St. Mary Catholic Church, the altar and ambo for Our Lord’s Church (both in Solon), as well as for the chapel at Mercy Hospital, Iowa City.
“I just liked woodworking. I never made any money at it, I’d already had a job before. If I had to get paid for this, I probably wouldn’t do very much, it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as much fun.”
Jack Neuzil (at right) talks with Solon Public Library Director Liz King while surrounded by many of the dinosaurs he’s crafted over the years.